FJ4overland

[High Five H2]

i see that Buick is a fan of the 40 (judging by the red rocket).

I'm not very mature, no.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

it's his happy look. either that or he's saying "f" toyota... which is pretty much what I'm doing by chopping this thing up.

I tell my wife she knows how to make a male very happy (when Buick is showing his enjoyment)... she responded, once, that girls like pets too - to which I retorted "how would you ever know, they could be faking it?"

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

more work


and the t-case is flatter to the frame...
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[SuperBuickGuy]

So starting to lay out how this is going to look... tomorrow, I'm picking up my axles whether they're done or not - if not, I'll do it myself, he said 2 weeks, it's been 3. No biggie, saves me money

so this is where the vehicle will rest at rest with the 38s under it. I also plan on making it tall enough that if I have a brain fart and decide I really want to run 44s again, it won't be anything to get enough clearance


and I started laying out the front as well, a lot of this needs to be in place to build the headers... including mounting the steering box


so I appropriated a set of seats that will probably land in the Spider - and realized that the bolsters will make it a pita to get into the vehicle - the seat height is kind of dictated by the gas tank under the passenger seat. I could move it (the tank) under the floor in the back, but that creates its own problems as well... with that said, I'm not sure I like vertical, rather than relaxed seating... so a decision will be made before I replace the box with steel


I also stole the steering column from the Buick.... I'm actually going to put a column shift in the Buick, so this column wouldn't work for that


anyway, next is setting the pedals and brake/clutch stuff in place... all for the purpose of building headers....
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[SuperBuickGuy]

carrying on
mark


cut


use 9" ford truss? no


smaller truss, yes
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[SuperBuickGuy]

One thing is not like the other






I thought they simply pressed these into place, then welded the brake ring... I have no idea how they did the one with the smooth transition - interesting stuff (at least to me)..

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I got the alignment tools.... and one bit doesn't work, I learned something - there is a different size end on the old dana 60s and the later ones... what year that is that changes it, I dunno... no biggie, I was going to hybrid the ends eventually anyway - so I've ordered some 14 bolt ends from ballistic fab. In other news, I don't know how I pulled it off, but I cut the axle perfectly for this exercise. anyway, I'll push this out tonight, I need to put the cv joints and rebuild the lower arms on my H3 - which is a lot easier on the lift - and I'll do that Sunday... after, I probably will roll the D2 back into the shop and see if I can make noise with it... I need to pull the transmission and seal it, also figure out why the transfer case won't go into 4lock... I don't need the '40 in the shop while I do the axles, so it goes outside for a bit

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

so I still don't have the front axle back, but if I don't get it this week plan b is to send it to Currie in California and let them do it... so this makes this step a bit difficult.
Headers


on the driver's side, I need the header to move out but not get in the way of the steering box or shaft



on the passenger side, plan A is simply 90 over then 90 down... plan B, which has the benefit of not having to wait for more tube, is to cut each outlet and taper the pipe back to cylinder 8.... won't be working much on this tomorrow night, so some thought will have time to jell.

and I may, since the clutch parts are supposed to arrive tomorrow, see if I can't get some noise out of the D2

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

got a few more parts in today.... and noticed an issue; fortunately, the digital camera picture picked up something that's impossible to see IRL.



so I went to put the new end in, and it's tight.... and impossibly tight on the other end... wtf?

this gave me the clue as to what's up

if you look at the rough cut one, it's thicker walled than the one on the left

but in this picture you can see the shadow of where it's flowed together.... I have to cut another 2" at least off the tubes; so I'll be able to press the end in without machining... yay
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[SuperBuickGuy]

a borrowed hub


and now I have the dimension


and cut


it's good news/bad news good news is one side fits loosely... bad news is the other side doesn't fit at all... ah well, I have a plan....

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

more fitting and fiddling


I'm not sure what this side will look like


but I do have an idea for the other side
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[SuperBuickGuy]

more header work


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[4speedfunk]

Whats the story on that front-steer, outboard-mounted box?

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Whats the story on that front-steer, outboard-mounted box?

are we concerned about the color? it was custom... and no, I didn't order that color - the guy who did didn't pick it up. I bought it off ebay

as for where it came from - it's a scout 2 box.

 

[4speedfunk]

are we concerned about the color?

Not at all. (I prefer mine to be hot pink). I'm concerned that might be a good option for a H3 SAS set-up. I've been using a similar rear-steer box on a couple H3 SAS's and the front steer might allow for some stretch on the wheelbase, and also free up some room for high-steer. Saginaw splines is also a huge plus, as the pitman & input choices are limitless.

Looks like a Saginaw input?
What year Scout?
Whats the length on that pitman?
Whats the drop on the pitman?
Whats the spline count on the sector shaft?
Is it a 3-bolt mounting?

Quite a header build...let us know how many hours you have in those. Nice looking job.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

It's a saginaw box, so it has saginaw inputs
1971-1980 - International made Scout 2s from 71-80 (which is surprising, since I thought the Scout 2 came out in 77).... learned something new.
9 1/4"
2"
sector shaft - I don't know... however, here's the guess... about the arm, it really looks like it's a standard, saginaw 2 wd chevy
yes, 3 bolt

as for input shaft...
there are two - 3/4-30 spline (77 up), or 13/16-36 spline ... the one pictured is a later 77-up box

in my build, I'll probably shorten the pitman arm - you can easily redrill the hole then taper it up to about 5" shorter (I'm going 2" shorter so it matches the length of the high steer I'm putting on the axle).

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I always picture a "Binky thinking" moment when I do this stuff... but no more for the passenger side, it's done




so here we go.... tentative place for steering box


or here


or maybe here


flatter?


front view


back to where I started


wait a minute how about I draw this out


so here's the deal, everything needs to move in parallel - the panhard bar will have to move with the steering rod, the steering arms need to move in parallel with the pitman arm... and to do that the pitman needs to be the same length as the steering arms and the pivot point of the steering box needs to be 90* and centered on the axle.... which simply isn't possible (axle travels on an arch, and the shock needs to go in the place where the steering box would reside).... so a compromise has to occur... so far, I'll move the box forward and tilt the pivot towards the rear/center of the axle... remember, the axle is travelling on an arch - and in my build, I'm going 4" up, 8" downward trave - so the true center has to be the mid-point of the typical suspension movement....as it's going down further than up, I have to cheat to the rear of the centerline... but not too much otherwise it will wander all over the road.... with 38-40" tires and link arms that are _____" long.... anyway, boring, but to get a vehicle to drive straight down the street or dirt road.... all of this to figure out where the tube for #1 cylinder is going to live.... fun, no?

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

more header work




so there is a slight problem, I need to move the header closer to the frame


​no big deal

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Continuing on with the same story

I didn't like how the driver's side looked like the first time, so I cut it back apart


and started again


last night got here


unfortunately, these had to come out


and only one runs... story of my life.. in case any of you wonder why I need 5 off-road vehicles... there it is

finally starting to put this part together


so at the end of tonight


and I bought a 14 bolt for parts... yeah, I bought a 14 bolt rear end for parts for a dana 60... I know it seems like robbing speed parts from a 911 to made VW bug faster... but there is method to the madness

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

driver's side is done


and I have the borgeson joint, so I can consider permanently mounting the steering box


now I can sell the rest - I've removed what I needed.


and starting here


I'm not going to call him out, but the machinist dialed up.025 off - which actually means he took .050 off. As you might imagine, it's a tad loose. oh well, this too I can fix, and encourages me to simply get another lathe then them mistakes will be all mine.

anyway, that's tomorrow's task

 

[High Five H2]

i bet your trucks would run if you quit taking them apart!!

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

yet there's the rub, I'd save money if I simply bought running vehicles rather than some-assembly-required vehicles.... but then where would you get your entertainment?

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

My wife left me unsupervised tonight, so I spent a bit more time in the shop...
cut some shims


installed

I'll weld them to the spindle now that I knew they fit (those aren't the same shim stock, the first were too thick)

better picture of the header

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

So the question... I'm 51% sure I'm going with a loc-rite or similar locker. E-locker would be nice, but, like any other diff-locking device, they aren't perfect - my biggest irritation with them is they're great for straight line work, not so much trying to keep from sliding into a tree well. ARB has the same issue. Detroit works, except I've had the thrill of having one lock up on a descent in a 74 Blazer... it was not something I really want to try twice. Loc-rites have the issue of snap understeer if you get on the throttle in a corner. Limited slips just don't work for real 4x4ing.... I like it in my truck, but it's a tow-rig, not a trail rig. I'm kind of considering the all-gear trac-lock (hmmm, maybe wrong name) like I had in my 06 GTO (not stock) because it doesn't come on as hard as the detroit, but still is a full lock once the tires get enough dissimilar revolutions.... but then, how different is it from a loc-rite? I loved it in my Buick, but I didn't like the unpredictable understeer nor did I like that it didn't always unlock on a corner....
so what to use?

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Rear differential
shims




I punched holes in the tubes then plug welded them... then welded the outside seam


60" was the target, it's 60 3/8"


there's what's next...


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